The first phase of the Innovation Camp consisted of theory classes. After his initial resistance, Lu Feiyang resigned himself to fate and began the miserable life of two-hour lectures every morning and afternoon.
When a rest day finally arrived, Lu Feiyang invited Ming Rao and Xiang Zhan to the school.
Before meeting him, Ming Rao had expected Lu Feiyang to be listless, but instead he was beaming with energy, completely transformed from the mournful state he’d been in when he first entered the camp.
Looking again, behind him was something gleaming
Oh, no wonder. A brand-new luxury sports car.
Lu Feiyang said it was a gift from his father to commend his outstanding performance at the Innovation Camp. As he drove Ming Rao and Xiang Zhan around campus, his face radiated joy: “So? Pretty cool, right! Looks like this Innovation Camp isn’t all bad your brother Feiyang can thrive anywhere.”
Xiang Zhan’s eyes sparkled with excitement: “Brother Feiyang, so you’re a scientist now!”
Technically, he was a science investor, but “scientist” did sound more impressive. Although he’d never passed physics or chemistry since middle school, who didn’t dream of being a scientist as a kid?
So Lu Feiyang didn’t correct Xiang Zhan and continued animatedly: “Honestly, I only started that project to appease the old man. But then the PhD student I hired to do the work said the project had real potential and even recommended it to his advisor. And guess what? It got promoted to a key project! I’m so proud of myself, I need to find a chance to properly thank him. Without him, this sports car wouldn’t be in my hands!”
Xiang Zhan said excitedly, “Brother Feiyang, just driving around campus is boring. Take us out for a spin!”
“What’s the rush? First, I need to drop off some materials at my advisor’s office.”
Soon, the sports car pulled into an open area in front of a building. The summer sun made the glossy paint even more dazzling, drawing passing students to stop and stare.
Above the entrance were several large characters “Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.”
Xiang Zhan read them aloud. He recognized every character, but the combination was unfamiliar. “What’s this for?”
Lu Feiyang said carelessly, “How would I know! The PhD student said it’s something hybrid studies lots of disciplines, like medicine, biology, and what else was it?”
“Computer science,” Ming Rao added unprompted. “And it’s called interdisciplinary, not hybrid.”
The two in the front seat turned to look at him simultaneously, as if they’d seen a ghost.
Ming Rao froze for a moment, then forced a casual reply: “Saw it on Little Sweet Potato.”
Actually, he’d seen it on Yan Yuchuan’s computer at the library that day never mind. Whatever happened at the library should stay at the library. He didn’t want to think about it.
Not at all!
Coincidentally, though, the project Lu Feiyang had outsourced was in the same field as Yan Yuchuan’s or maybe it was just a particularly hot area of research?
When he went upstairs and reached the office of Lu Feiyang’s advisor, he understood the saying “no coincidence, no story.”
Lu Feiyang’s advisor was Xu Pingxin, the only professor and doctoral supervisor in cognitive neuroscience among the entrepreneurial mentors at this Innovation Camp. When they arrived, her office door was wide open, and several visitors were seated on the sofa. Looking closely, they were all familiar faces.
Lin Zhihao and Lin Zhimiao sat side by side on the long sofa. And sitting in the single armchair at the other end of the table was.
Yan Yuchuan.
The moment Ming Rao saw that face, his heart tightened.
Since that “accident” at the library, he’d forced himself not to think about this person. If Lu Feiyang hadn’t insisted on inviting them out, he wouldn’t have wanted to return to school before the semester started.
Standing at the office door, they could clearly hear the conversation inside.
Xu Pingxin was a young woman with elegant curls and a gentle voice: “Actually, in situations like this, we usually recommend that you have a good talk with the other project team, ideally reaching a collaboration. The Innovation Camp encourages independent innovation, but it also welcomes competitive innovation. If you insist on working alone, we won’t interfere. However, it’s impossible for us to invest in two projects with such high overlap, especially since their project has already been pushed up the ranks. We need your understanding on this point.”
Just then, Lu Feiyang knocked on the door. Xu Pingxin turned and smiled: “Perfect timing the other project team is here.”
The moment he saw Lu Feiyang, Yan Yuchuan stood up directly from the sofa.
His eyes were wide, staring intently as Lu Feiyang approached step by step, his clenched fists at his sides seeming ready to swing at any moment.
But Lu Feiyang acted as if he hadn’t noticed, smiling with practiced charm: “Hello, Professor Xu.”
“Ah, you’re here. I was just talking about you,” Xu Pingxin said, still wearing her gentle smile, completely unaware of the tense undercurrent in the room. “These students’ project has… some overlap with yours. Would you like to exchange ideas? More people means more perspectives.”
“I see.” Lu Feiyang stared straight at Yan Yuchuan’s reddened eyes, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on his lips. “Professor Xu probably doesn’t know yet, but these students have already expressed interest in our project before. We’d love to bring them on board, but unfortunately, they’re not official members of the Innovation Camp. We find that quite regrettable as well.”
Xu Pingxin was taken aback. “Ah… is that so.”
After Lu Feiyang and his group handed in their materials and left, Xu Pingxin remained silent for a while before asking Yan Yuchuan with an awkward expression, “You aren’t official members?”
Yan Yuchuan nodded. He was about to apologize for wasting her time listening to their project presentation when he heard Xu Pingxin sigh. “What a shame. You really are capable.”
Xu Pingxin picked up the concept validation proposal Yan Yuchuan had written on the coffee table and flipped through it again, her expression growing increasingly solemn.
“To be honest, your project is much further along than the other group’s, and the technical principles you’ve laid out are more feasible. It’s just that”
A thousand words, yet only a sigh remained.
This was Xu Pingxin’s third year as a mentor for the Innovation Camp. She had reviewed countless proposals and knew what “overlap” and “duplication” looked like. How could she not see that these two groups were clearly working on the exact same project?
She had assumed they were originally one team that had a falling out, and she’d hoped to quietly mediate. Now it seemed the actual situation was more complicated than she’d thought.
And more helpless.
As Yan Yuchuan and the Lin siblings came downstairs, a luxury sports car screeched to a halt in front of them.
Lu Feiyang sat in the driver’s seat, brandishing his sunglasses at them with a triumphant air.
Lin Zhihao charged forward, grabbing the car window and shouting furiously, “You bastards! You stole our proposal!”
“Stole? Watch your mouth.” Lu Feiyang leisurely put on his sunglasses. “Did you file a patent? It’s just a proposal. Anyone can have ideas they don’t count as intellectual property until they’re realized. You’re in research, so you should know that, right? If you’ve got the guts, go ahead and sue me.”
“You’re absolutely disgusting! What did we ever do to you? Why do you have to target us like this?”
“Wrongful accusation! I wasn’t targeting you this time. Blame your bad luck for crossing my path. I just needed some topic to wrap up my assignment, and I happened to find yours. If you don’t want your work stolen, why didn’t you encrypt your data when you used the school’s wireless network?”
The sports car sped off, kicking up a cloud of dust.
That day was the orientation day at Port Harbor University. Freshmen, burdened with bags in hand and on their shoulders, folded the flyers they’d collected along the way into fans to cool themselves or held them above their foreheads to block the sun. They paused to gaze up at the various uniquely designed buildings, their youthful faces brimming with anticipation for the future.
But for the three people sitting on the wooden bench outside the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, their journey to Port Harbor seemed to have reached its end.
“What do we do now?” Lin Zhihao slumped dejectedly against the backrest. When he found no one responding to his words, he kicked at a pile of dead leaves in frustration. “I knew we shouldn’t have come.”
Lin Zhimiao glanced at Yan Yuchuan and asked, “Brother Chuan, so are we heading back now?”
Yan Yuchuan wiped his face, his fingers tapping away at something on his phone. At Lin Zhimiao’s words, his movements paused slightly, and he replied in a hoarse voice, “Let’s try a bit more.”
“Try more?” Lin Zhihao shouted. “Brother Chuan, what else are you planning to try? I only came to Port Harbor because I listened to your nonsense! I thought you had everything figured out! And what happened? We’re almost out of money and we’ve got nothing to show for it!”
Lin Zhimiao quickly tugged at his sleeve. “Brother, stop it.”
The attempt to calm him only added fuel to the fire. Lin Zhihao shook off her hand, and the anger he’d been bottling up for so long finally erupted. “What do you care what I say? If I keep quiet, does that make everything fine? We’ve wasted so much of our family’s money on this useless stuff. Just wait until Dad finds out he’ll tear him apart!”
“Brother”
“He’s right.” Yan Yuchuan pressed his clasped hands against his forehead, hunched slightly forward. He turned to look at Lin Zhihao, his face dim and lifeless, his voice heavy with self-reproach. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”
It was his carelessness using the school’s network without encryption.
It was his naivety believing that even if Port Harbor was a den of iniquity, at least the campus would be clean.
He didn’t know how far Lu Feiyang could take the project. From what Xu Pingxin had said, one of her PhD students was also on that team. He could tell Xu Pingxin was an upright and honorable professor, and the students she mentored surely wouldn’t lack real talent.
Technically, he could still continue the project. As Xu Pingxin had said, no rule dictated that two projects couldn’t share the same research direction. But with Lu Feiyang’s financial backing and resources standing in the way, how could anyone possibly consider investing in him?
He didn’t even know why Lu Feiyang was doing this project. But if these two months in Platinum Harbor had taught him anything, it was that only people like him the poor needed to “think.”
Those born with silver spoons in their mouths never did things because they “thought” about it, but simply because they “could” and since they could, why not?
Since the day he arrived in Platinum Harbor, Yan Yuchuan had watched, bit by bit, as his last shred of hope and dreams for this world were ruthlessly trampled into pieces.
Until today, everything had turned to dust.
And at this very moment, the ones he felt most sorry for were Lin Zhihao and Lin Zhimiao, who had followed him through all the hardships, and Lin Zhenxing, far away in Pingcheng compared to the kindness the Lin family had shown him, what were his ideals and dignity worth?
“Don’t worry,” after a long silence, Yan Yuchuan finally spoke softly, his voice and pitch-black pupils revealing a resolute determination, “I won’t go back on what I promised you.”
With that, he slowly closed his eyes, gripping the phone in his palm even tighter.
Even if the price was everything he had.